Count of Hainaut

The County of Hainaut was a state of the Holy Roman Empire that existed from 900 to 1797, with Mons serving as its capital. Hainaut was originally a province of Lotharingia, and it was a part of West Francia from 911 to 925. It was divided in 958 and reached its final form in 1071. During the Middle Ages, Hainaut became culturally and linguistically French, and it was acquired by the House of Valois-Burgundy in 1432 as a part of the Burgundian Netherlands. In 1477, Hainaut passed to the Habsburgs as a part of the new Habsburg Netherlands, and it was ruled by Habsburg Spain as a part of the Spanish Netherlands from 1555 to 1714. In 1659 and 1678, southern Hainaut was acquired by France as the result of the Franco-Spanish War and Franco-Dutch War, respectively, and the rest of the county was ceded to the French First Republic by Emperor Francis II of Germany in 1797 during the French Revolutionary Wars.